Greek yogurt is one of my fridge staples. I use it in lots of baking instead of butter or oil. I use it for making sauces and dips. And I use it instead of icecream as dessert for my kids! There are lots of great organic varieties out there. Greek yogurt can be significantly higher in fat than regular yogurt(up to 10% milk fat), which is fine for my micro-eating children, and there are some incredible brands that are made with skim milk, 0% milk fat!

Yogurt is a tricky thing because it’s often touted as health food, and then is often filled with sugar, or worse, sugar replacements, such as splenda or aspartame, and thickening agents to give it a creamier texture. Stay away from these. I feel strongly about our dairy being organic, exclusively, but if you are not too concerned about it, just make sure you find yogurt that is sweetened with fruit. Or better yet, buy plain yogurt and sweeten it yourself with pureed fruit, or a bit of honey or maple syrup.

Greek yogurt is different from regular yogurt, in that it is strained, through cheese cloth, to give it that incredible thick and creamy texture. So creamy that it feels like a treat! All yogurt is full of probiotics that are imperative for our keeping our digestive systems healthy.

So here are a few ideas for getting more yogurt into your diet!

1. Stir in a bit of skim greek style yogurt into tomato sauces, or pasta dishes, making for a rose, or cream sauce, with a fraction of the fat of adding butter and cream.

2. Make healthy, kid friendly sundaes, by freezing greek yogurt, even plain, and topping with fruit that has been lightly simmered with a touch of honey. My kids love lemon yogurt with blackberry sauce.

3. Use greek yogurt, to replace mayo or sour cream in dips and spreads. I made the following recipe for some friends last night. We dipped cauliflower into this and it was a big hit! Easiest appy ever!

I have to weigh in here because this too is a fridge staple at my house. I buy a product called Krema that we have here in Thrifty Foods and I have to say it is better than most desserts I’ve had. So thick and delicious. We use it is smoothies, tzaziki, with honey and flax for breakfast, dips and spreads. But I have yet to try it in pasta sauce; that will be my next effort for sure!

Actually, you only need to buy ordinary yogourt at what ever % of fat, take out a strainer, line it with cheese cloth (two layers), put the strainer over a pot that fits, dump in the yogourt (you can use some weight on top but I don’t), let her sit in the fridge for a day or two. Voila! Much less expensive then ‘Greek Yogourt’ or Labne that many Arabic cuisines use.

I’ve given up on store bought yogourt, way too expensive, must be all the marketing because it makes no sense to me. I make my own now, it’s about the easiest thing you can make next to a grilled cheese! It costs me $3 for $14 of store bought, find the logic in that especially when they mass produce it!